Stanford Squirms, Stays on Hook

My favourite financier, Ex "Sir" Allen Stanford, approaches public denouement as inexorably as entropy. Ducking, foaming at the mouth, diving in psychotic style, he is driven back into the naughty corner by American Justice, pressing every available button marked "DELAY" "PREVARICATE" that he can find.
The Beeb clinically traces his ducks and weaves.


27th Jan: Allen Stanford ruled unfit to stand trial for fraud

A US federal judge has ruled that Texan billionaire Allen Stanford is unfit to stand trial at present over accusations he led a $7bn (£4.5bn) fraud scheme.
Mr Stanford is facing trial over allegations that he ran a pyramid scheme based in Antigua which defrauded investors.

"The court finds Stanford is incompetent to stand trial at this time based on his apparent impaired ability to rationally assist his attorneys in preparing his defence," District Judge Hittner wrote in his ruling in Houston, Texas.

16th Feb: Stanford moved from Houston to a different detention facility

U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled after a hearing in January that Stanford is incompetent to stand trial and must undergo detoxification from addictions to medications prescribed for anxiety and depression.
A brain injury Stanford suffered in a 2009 altercation with another inmate also may have diminished his capacity to assist in his defense, the judge wrote, citing expert testimony in the hearing.

18th Feb: Allen Stanford files $7.2bn countersuit

Texan billionaire Allen Stanford has filed a countersuit against US prosecutors, accusing them of depriving him of his constitutional rights. The lawsuit claims prosecutors "undertook illegal tactics" in their investigation of Mr Stanford's alleged pyramid scheme that they claim defrauded investors of $7bn (£4.3bn).
Mr Stanford is seeking $7.2bn in damages from the SEC and FBI.

23rd Dec: Allen Stanford ruled fit for trial

A US federal judge has ruled Texan financier Allen Stanford is mentally fit to stand trial for allegedly operating a $7bn (£4.5bn) Ponzi scheme.
"I see no brain injury that stands in the way of his standing trial," said Dr Robert Cochrane, a psychological evaluator at the prison.
US District Judge David Hittner agreed after a three-day hearing in Houston, Texas, that Mr Stanford was able to help his lawyers prepare for the trial.

Mr Stanford has spent more than eight months at a North Carolina prison hospital undergoing psychological tests and being weaned off anti-anxiety medication. Charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009, Mr Stanford denies running a Ponzi scheme involving the sale of fraudulent certificates of deposit issued by his offshore bank in Antigua.

21st Century Tatts

Disclaimer: I have no tattoos and three sealed up piercings.


They've got these hi tec guns and stuff now, so the ink bottle and one of Mum's needles is restricted to an underclass, but tattooing is still pretty basic.
You want a tatt, absolutely 100% fine by me (as if you give a fuck), but the end result seems to be defined by the limitations of the process. Sticking an inked bit of metal in your skin.
And you get a piece of graphic art, a picture, or writing, script, and that's your lot.
A good artist can get a 3D effect with colour and composition but it's still a static image, a snapshot, paradoxically often expressing more abstract values.

So 20th century, static stuff. In this new century, on the move is the way, whole countries with no copper wire telephones but smart phones, multi dimensional tasking made essential in order to cope with the privations being forced upon us by out banking Lords, to pay their gambling debts. To make us able to buy 24/7, fulfill our capitalist obligations as the Consuming Serf.
Everything is moving, marketing fish waiting for your credit card to snap them up swim all around you in virtual shoals, infinitely breeding with depthless digital fecundity. We will never be able to eat enough, and their greed will never be satiated.

Anyway, what about nanotechnology? I first came across this as a sceptical green, reading with grim horror about nanosilver socks that stop your feet smelling by killing bacteria. Everything above the size of nothing, apparently. Which is cool if you're a lazy cunt who can't be bothered to wash his feet, but not so good for Good Old Mother Earth and her groovy ecosystem.
Because not all somethings above the size of nothing are bad for you, that's why, but nanosilver doesn't give a monkey's about that. You're a toasted microbe.
To cut to the chase, I was wondering if you could graft an 'active' skin onto your body, made with computerised elements at the nanolevel, and have

MOVING TATTOOS!

To be continued...

Very Short Videos Inc. presents: Belle and the Hooker

Pepper with that?

America's Law Enforcement Officers Enforce Law

Breaking News: U.S. Economy in Safe hands

The world's greatest deliberative bodies are exempt from insider trading laws, even though its members get quicker access to market-moving information than almost anyone else.

If you're one of those 9 percent of Americans who still trust Congress, well, avert your eyes and don't read a new book, Throw Them All Out, written by the conservative scholar/sometime Palin speechwriter Peter Schweizer.

Working through it, one of the ugliest revelations so far -- prodded in the Kroft story -- is the degree to which Rep. Spencer Bachus, then ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, bet against the market as it collapsed in 2008. Schweizer finds "no less than forty options trades" in Bachus's records from July 2008 to November 2008.

The trades made him wealthier; almost nobody else had the information he had, and could have made them. Take this example, from the bottom of the collapse.

On the evening of September 18, at 7 p.m., Bachus received [a] private briefing for congressional leaders by Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke about the current state of the economy. They sat around a long table in the office of Nancy Pelosi, then the Speaker of the House. These briefings were secretive. Often, cell phones and Blackberrys had to be surrendered outside the room to avoid leaks.

What Bachus and his colleagues heard behind closed doors was stunning. As Paulson recounts, “Ben [Bernanke] emphasized how the financial crisis could spill into the real economy. As stocks dropped perhaps a further 20 percent, General Motors would go bankrupt, and unemployment would rise . . . if we did nothing.” The members of Congress around the table were, in Paulson’s words, “ashen-faced.”

Bernanke continued, “It is a matter of days before there is a meltdown in the global financial system.” Bachus was among those who spoke. According to Paulson, he suggested recapitalizing the banks by buying shares.

The meeting broke up. The next day, September 19, Congressman Bachus bought contract options on Proshares Ultra-Short QQQ, an index fund that seeks results that are 200% of the inverse of the Nasdaq 100 index. In other words, he was shorting the market. It was an inexpensive way to bet that the market would fall. He bought options for $7,846 on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 8,604. A few days later, on September 23, after the market had indeed fallen, he sold the options for over $13,000 and nearly doubled his money.

There are dozens of examples like this. On September 8, Hank Paulson gets a tip from GE about the company's sluggish bond sales, on September 10, Bachus shorts GE optionsfour times. It's all legal, and Bachus is now the chairman of House Financial Services.

Being a Giant isn't always a bowl of cherries

Were we really pretty things?

A molecule

Reflections on Coppers

They have gone from this



to this




In my lifetime. Maybe Good Old George was romanticised, but is it really that much more dangerous now? Or it it because of them that it's not?

A Man of Constant Sorrow

Greece LMFAO

Stroke of genius, a referendum!!

Fond Memories of Sir Jimmy Savile OBE RIP

"BY" PAUL MERTON

Apparently, this was actually recorded during the last series of "Have I Got  News For You" when Jimmy Saville was a guest on Paul Merton's team.  Incredibly, it didn't make our screens. (It seems that Mr.  Merton doesn't  like Mr. Saville very much)

Out-take 3:09'36  

During the headline round:  

DEAYTON: You used to be a wrestler didn't you?

SAVILLE: I still am.  

DEAYTON: Are you?  

SAVILLE: I'm feared in every girls' school in the country.  (Audience laugh)  

DEAYTON: Yeah, I've heard about that.  

SAVILLE: What have you heard?  

DEAYTON: I've...  

MERTON: Something about a cunt with a rancid, pus-filled cock.  (Huge audience laugh; Awkward pause)  

SAVILLE: I advise you to wash your mouth out, my friend...  

MERTON: That's what she had to do! (Audience laughs)  

HISLOP: Weren't you leaving money in phone boxes or something?  (Saville glares at him) Or have I got completely the wrong end of the...  

SAVILLE: (To Deayton, heavily) The question you asked was about wrestling.  

DEAYTON: Yes. And then you mentioned girls' schools. I don't know whe...  

SAVILLE: Well I understood this was a comedy programme. I realise now how wrong I was. (Audience laugh)  

DEAYTON: So were you a professional wrestler?  

SAVILLE: Yes I was.  

DEAYTON: (To audience) Glad we got that cleared up.(Pulls face; audience giggles)

HISLOP: Feared by every girls' school in the country...  

SAVILLE: That's right.  

MERTON: Due to having a rancid, pus-filled cock.(Huge audience laugh)  

DEAYTON: Erm...  

HISLOP: You're on top form tonight, Paul...  

SAVILLE: (Strangely) I'm...this is not what I...  

FLOOR MANAGER: (OOV) OK, do you...(inaudible section)...shall we, for pick-ups...  

MERTON: I'm terribly sorry. I don't know what came over me.  

SAVILLE: A pus-filled cock, I imagine. (Shocked audience laugh)  

MERTON: Oh, it's nice to see you joining in. We'd been waiting for you, you sad senile old shitter. (Audience appears to do double-take)  

DEAYTON: I think we...d-d-you you want to apologise to our guest, Paul?  

MERTON: Sorry, I do apologise. Sir senile old shitter, is what I meant to say. (Audience laugh; pause) Sir senile old shitter...who fucks minors.  (Audience unrest) 

HISLOP: Sorry, I'm just looking at our lawyer again. (Waves) Hello!  (Audience laughs) 

DEAYTON: Shall we get back on course with this, or sha...  
SAVILLE: I do fuck miners, that's quite correct. I have always done so. They can do the most wonderful things with cigars. The coal...  
MERTON: What, they stick them up your senile, pus-filled arse?  (Audience laughs)  
FLOOR MANAGER: (OOV): Come on...I'm getting an ear-bashing here. It's...  
MERTON: Oh they want to continue. Sorry, I'll contain myself. Carry on...  
DEAYTON: Right (Pause) You used to be a professional wrestler didn't you?  (Huge audience laugh)  
SAVILLE: (Calmly) I did.  
DEAYTON: You didn't have a nickname or anything?  
SAVILLE: Yes - 'Loser'. (Audience laughs)  

Out-take 4: 21'20  
Following a discussion about caravans:  
DEAYTON: Last month, Roger Moore sold his luxury caravan in Malta. Asked by the...  
MERTON: I visited your caravan the other week, Jimmy.  
SAVILLE: Did you really?  
MERTON: Oh yes. Interesting what you can find, if you have a bit of a poke.  (Audience laugh)  
HISLOP: He just told you, it was twelve years ago...  
SAVILLE: No, I lived in it for twelve years.  
MERTON: And fucked twelve year olds. (Audience laugh)  
DEAYTON: Here we go again...I'll be backstage if anyone wants me.  
MERTON: (Indicating Saville) That's what you said to the kids on your show, wasn't it?  (Audience laugh)  
SAVILLE: No, they never did want me.  
HISLOP: Not even Sarah Cornley?  
SAVILLE: She was an exception.  
DEAYTON: Who's Sarah Cornley?  
SAVILLE: Sarah Cornley is...  
HISLOP: About fifteen grand in damages, wasn't she?  (Uncertain audience laugh)  
SAVILLE: That's right.  
HISLOP: So if I was going to mention that you threatened to break her arm if she said anything...  
SAVILLE: You'd be very wrong. (Pause) I said I'd break both her arms.  (Audience unease)  
MERTON: Fucking hell. I mean, you're just sitting there, all shell suit and cigar wearing those fucking...I don't know what they are.  
SAVILLE: Chrome-plated SC-700 sun-visors, these are. Sent to me by...  
MERTON: We don't give a shit. Ladies and gentlemen, Sir James Saville OBE. Jim has fixed it for me to have my arms broken. Meet this depressing old fucked up cunt of a fucker on television who's riddled with cancer and fucking pubic lice.  
HISLOP: (To lawyer again) Hello! (Audience laughs)  
MERTON: Christ, I mean ha ha, big fucking joke - the fucking lawyers are involved, tee hee. It doesn't change anything.  
DEAYTON:  (Visibly out of character) Do you wanna stop, or...?
MERTON: No I don't fucking want to stop. It's all shit! You'll expect a comedy walkout in a minute, won't you? I mean, big bloody joke - I'm going to quote Shakespeare in a minute, how fucking out of character. And Ian knows about football - oh my fucking sides. 
SAVILLE: You've never fucked anyone in your life, boy.  
MERTON: Oh fuck off...  
FLOOR MANAGER: (OOV) ...About five minutes, just to...(Phil Davey enters)  
PHIL DAVEY: OK, well top that as they say. You're looking troubled by that, aren't you mate? I tell you, I came back from Amsterdam recently...  
RECORDING PLACED ON STAND-BY; CUTS BACK TO CLOSE-UP OF DEAYTON  AWAITING HIS CUE
DEAYTON: OK. Second time lucky. (Pause) Last month, Roger Moore sold  his luxury caravan in Malta. Asked by the New York Times about his relaxed acting style...
*******
An amusing, shocking story that's been around for years. However, if you Goggle "Sarah Cornley", all you get is references back to this "story".
The Internet is a dangerous place.................

Where's my cut? Making people famous...

This guy was just another freak until he appeared on these hallowed pages.

Grateful? HA. Not a fucking word.

Pulp Fiction

The Grasshopper and the Ant

Every now and then I see cut and pastes on the internet forums, homilies and faux personal insights, parables and poems that have been posted by members, eager to share something that they really agree with, also forgetting to mention that they didn't write it, secretly hoping that 'friends' will think "Wow, WhiteWarrior111 really knows where it's at!"
They are usually full of conservative WASP moral values, with a punchline that's as easy to remember, and come in various hues of racism.
Being an old billy-no-mates who doesn't do social and can only look at so much bike related stuff on the Net, I occasionally track their antecedents down, usually wading through increasingly bizarre right wing fantasies before ending up with the BNP site, or some US conspiracy blog.
One such was this:

The ant and the grasshopper.

The ant works hard In the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house And laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, And ABC show up to Provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant In his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper
Is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper And everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green...'

ACORN stages A demonstration in front of the ant's House where the news stations film the SEIU group singing, We shall overcome.

Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright Has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake, while he damns the ants.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope For the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview on CNN that the ant has
gotten rich off the back of the Grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts The Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act
retroactive to the beginning of The summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number Of green bugs and,
having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper And his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and peaceful, neighborhood.


Note the spacing, to let the prose sink in, or allow room for an inspired underlining slash of marker pen. !! !

Put the first line in Google and the earliest reference to this particular version is 5 years old, on Right Truth, an American blog whose sub title, "counterterrorism, politics, religion, ..." doesn't promise a laugh a minute. And it's true to its promise.

The posts and titles I skimmed were typical of these sites, the POTUS is referred to Barack Hussein Obama and blamed for everything, the comments are surreal and the blogroll is huge, mutually linking other crazies in a webclick popularity Ponzi scheme.

This political spam seems to have cyclical popularity. Most of the other links are recent, near to exactly 5 years after the original, a strangely round number that would indicate some sort of sinister software, accumulating and timing for fixed periods to reactivate random propaganda. Well it would if you were as paranoid about things as the regulars on these blogs.

So, Right Truth, who and what are you? You're edited by Debbie Hamilton, a very wholesome name, very WASPish, pictured in front of The Stars and Stripes

Pretty tasty, huh, in a Barbie sort of way. She just has to have silicon tits and a horse. Anyway, no biog on the blog, no interviews on the Net, but she's on Facebook. She's 60 and lives in west Tennessee. Her husband used to live next door to Carl Perkins.
Her heroes are:
'The passengers of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. LET'S ROLL! Our military men and women.'

This is the modern version of course, updated to paint recognisable hate figures as left wing wasteful grasshoppers, and the genuine American ants with a blue collar and a red neck.

The whole anthropomorphic comparison is shaky anyway, a true blue Tennesee girl would probably associate "ant" with "communist" in a word association test.

For the original, we go all the way back to the bloke who wrote most of the stories ever written, Aesop and his Fables, around 600 BC. This is number 373 on the Perry Index, drawing the logical conclusion often stated in the separate Moral of the Story punchlines:
"Idleness brings want"
"To work today is to eat tomorrow"
"Beware of winter before it comes"

These are echoed by none other than that most august of historical reference books, the Bible, in the Book of Proverbs, Old (Jewish) Testament 6:6-9:
"Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest"

'....which having no captain, overseer or ruler...."

Which = evidence that G-d is a Marxist.

Number 166 presents a different interpretation, using a cicada beetle as the grasshopper character, as the early Greeks did.
Here the ant was once a man who was always busy farming. Not satisfied with the results of his own labour, he plundered his neighbours' crops at night.
This angered the king of the gods, who turned him into what is now an ant. Yet even though the man had changed his shape, he did not change his habits and still goes around the fields gathering the fruits of other people's labour, storing them up for himself.
The moral in this interpretation is that it is easier to change in appearance than to change one's moral nature.

The French identify the singing wasteful beetle with voluptuous females, hopelessly unequipped for the 'real world' as in this excuse for an ogle "When the north wind came" as a satire on Napoleon's failures in cold Prussia.


French fabulists even enlist a third character, the bee, whose presence breaks the deadlock and they all end up living happily ever after. The Catholics tacked a twist on the end, Updike, Joyce and Somerset Maugham played with different versions for differing reasons, but the modern US version is based on that great American Walt Disney's cartoon critique of that commie bastard Roosevelt's New Deal.

In his version however, the wasteful=artistic Grasshopper musician is cut a deal for food by the hardworking=responsible ant farmer, and allowed enough food to survive in exchange for music lessons and entertainment. This is a very soft line for Disney to take against his own ideological enemies, the spongers and wasters, possibly explainable by the parallel debate about the 'value' of artists to/in society, one of which he undoubtedly was.

In a hard line alternative, the ant refuses this deal when it is offered by the grasshopper, saying "I don't want my children to learn music, I want them to learn something useful to put food in the store."

But Debbie, if no-one learns music, who's going to be in the "rock and roll bands" (that you 'would most like to meat'... sorry meet'), and what sort of 'Lover of Freedom' can an ant really be?

Say hello, Pinhead.

Ninos Robados: my Favourite Church Strikes Again.

Los Niños perdidos del franquismo o niños robados por el franquismo, son aquellos niños que, durante la Guerra Civil Española y la posguerra española, fueron arrebatados a sus madres republicanas, bien porque estaban en la cárcel o porque habían sido asesinadas por el ejército golpista.

1) Los delitos de los que fueron objeto son: secuestro, tráfico de niños y adopción ilegal.

2) Los Niños perdidos del franquismo es un episodio poco conocido de la historia reciente de España. Hace referencia a la desaparición de hijos pequeños de republicanos y la separación forzosa de sus familias por parte de la represión franquista.

Conforme las tropas sublevadas de Franco ganaban terreno, las prisiones se llenaban de personas que habían sido leales a la República. Entre los prisioneros había miles de mujeres militantes de partidos políticos de izquierda o, simplemente, esposas, madres o hermanas de republicanos.

Las cárceles también se llenaban de niños que nacieron o que ingresaron en la prisión con sus madres y que pasaron los primeros años de su vida privados de libertad por ser hijos de republicanos.

Radio 4

"Stalin would order 5,000 prisoners shot. If there weren't enough prisoners, they would drag people off the street and shoot them."

For my next trick

Baalbek, Lebanon.

Down the Strip with My Valk

I'm customising the Valk over the winter and will be asking John to make a stainless 2" 6 into 6 exhaust, and rejetting the carbs appropriately, so I wanted to get some idea of how fast she is at the moment. She is fast, in the tradition of Honda, as with my 83 V65, the earliest are the fastest. On an Autobahn very similar to the M5, with a gradient to help at the start, she reached just under 145 mph on the clock, pulling redline 6500 in top.

Bill's dyno van is a bit crowded if you put a huge bike in it, and he's not very keen on doing them which is fair enough, so I decided to go 1/4 mile Sprinting at Westonzoyland airfield this Sunday, 2nd October, in our Indian Summer. Much more fun.
We'd been earlier this year to watch and had a good time. Also Cornish Terry had challenged me (or did I challenge him?) on his mystery Sporty, reputed to turn high 11's. He pleaded poverty on the day, understandable, £100 was well spent for me as an occasional treat but it's the end of the season.

Tractor v Turbine will have to be another time.

It was a beautiful sunny day and I pottered over from Porlock on the Valk, miles of double white lines and Jemimah's with horse boxes. Why don't they have two horses, one at home, and one where they need it?

Mark drove over with the gear, cold water and his dog's play ring, which Scrumpy promptly nicked.

We set up camp and the Valk attracted polite bemused interest. I told people it was in the Light Goods Class. The sun shone and I treated us to two teas for £3. Naughty, but merely a fly in a day full of ointment, sat in our garden chairs waiting for the Church six miles away to finish Sunday Service.

Gaffered taped the glass up and was delighted to be running under "M".

Filled in enough forms to buy a house and was scrutineered politely and successfully. Slipped into my borrowed PowerRanger outfit and gold label motocross helmet,(thanks to Tim and Baldric) and had a quick riders meeting and a walk up the strip.

Interesting flora.

My scrutineer's sticker was yellow, and on the top of the timing van there were three flags, red, yellow and blue, one run per group of bikes in rotation.

Apparently it was poorly attended, due to other events and the cost of transport across a wide expanse of the South West at the end of the racing season. I was told this, and many other things, in a very kindly way by the 60 year veteran of sprinting, Henry Body of the beautiful Douglas'.

PowerRanged up, I get in a short queue in the left hand lane near my Fan Club (you know who you are), feeling totally calm and pleasantly focused. A light breeze keeps me cool in Baldy's open helmet, the jaw guard purses my cheeks like I'm sucking a lemon. I count the bikes in the queue to see what's in the other lane, but I'm not racing against it...

Unlike drag racing, in sprinting you race the clock, breaking the beam on green when you want, but you are still aware of the bike in the next lane, only if because you'd like to make sure they are staying there.

I eschew a burn out, taking on board the sound sounding advice that I should just concentrate on getting to the other end without crashing and burning.

And we're off!

Drop the clutch at 4000 and fuck me it's time to change into second and the back wheel is still spinning as I shift clutchlessly at 7000 and then the vague sideways drifting motion that I have been feeling resumes as the bike snakes elegantly up the concrete, weeds running for cover.

I have just put sintered HH pads in the back, and I stand on them gingerly and haul on the front after I cross the finish line and the end of the run off area gets closer. Very quickly.

The speedo was reading just under 105 as I crossed the line and that was confirmed on the hand written sheets churned out by the lady in the start caravan. 101 mph @ 13.48 sec.

There's something randomly satisfying about breaking 100mph terminal speed on your first run and I basked in the moment.

Anyway, I didn't crash and burn, and posed like I thought Stoner might on a cruiser as I passed the Ambulance and nodded at the rosy cheeked fat bloke with the chequered flag on the way back. Hardcore sprinters/dragsters boomed and roared up the strip, the sky was blue and I had a big grin on my face.

My resident experts

decide that traction is the problem, wheelspin up to about 70 mph, looked and sounded impressive, apparently, but costing me vital milliseconds. I had deflated the rear from 42 psi on the road to 25, so I went down again to 20 but left the burnout alone for the time being.

The second run was faster and slower simultaneously 96.3 mph @ 13.02, a common bizarrality that no-one there could explain.

Still spinning all the way through first and got a bit sideways after shifting into second, which is probably where I lost speed.

For the third run I dropped the start revs from 4000 to 2500 and was rewarded with the best run so far, 100.8 mph @ 12.79. That's approaching what Honda got when they first advertised the Valk 15 years ago, presumably ridden by someone with more than two runs experience.

Well chuffed.

The fourth run, the last before lunch, was right there too, 101.8 mph @ 13.05.

Over a cheeseburger, it was decided to go down to 12 psi and warm the tyre up with a burnout.

I really didn't want to damage the tyre and have to trailer the bike home, so I marked the rim and tyre to make sure there was no creep on the wheel.

OK, so, my first legal burnout in front of about 100 people, most of them highly experienced sprinters. On a 780 lb shaft drive bike.

Put 4000 on in first and pulled on the front brake, gingerly letting the clutch out.

No lurch, just the smell of burning Bridgestone for about 10 seconds, up to the line, much better traction and 104.6 mph @ 12.58, quickly followed by a 104.4 mph @ 12.64. That was particular fun because I was up against a very natty naked GSX1300.

I did a few seconds extra burnout and then crept forward for a false start, but kept pretty close to him until about 70 and then he pulled away.

I had originally thought that eight runs would be enough and that was confirmed when I had a brain freeze on the last run, inexplicably changing up just before the finish line and screwing up a good time.

I'd spoken to a few of my very friendly co sprinters during the day, and they all had that "looking for another 0.1 of a second off" look in their eyes. It's tempting, but I have a plan for this baby which does not involve titanium this and kryptonite that, alluring though it may be. Well, maybe a pair of turbos, but that's my limit. Very low boost.

Like most things, the last few percentage points of improvement are incredibly hard to get without spending a lot of time and $$$. I realised that I had probably reached about it in terms of the Valk's potential in standard form. A 200 sticky bike tyre or Darksiding might have helped a bit.

When I come back next year, the plan is to have a 6 into 6 exhaust and larger jets in the six carbs, which Americans would have me believe will give me 10% more power. It will be interesting to see how that translates on the track. Should she be 10% faster?

There was a subplot to the day, as there always seems to be with females, regarding a lost and found camera and Facebook. Thank you to everybody for their help.

It was a very British day out and I loved it.

HONDA VALKYRIE F6C, MADE IN THE USA, 1996/7 STANDARD MODEL.

RUN	TERMINAL SPEED mph	TIME secs		TYRE HOT/COLD		TYRE PRESSURE PSI		START RPM 000's
1	101.1	13.48		C		25		4
2	96.3	13.02		C		20		4
3	100.8	12.79		C		20		2.5
4	101.8	13.05		C		20		2.5
5	104.6	12.58		H		12		4
6	104.4	12.64		H		12		4
7	100.6	13.02		H		12		2.5
8	100.4	12.66		H		12		4

If I was capable of Hate...

....I would hate Theresa May.

Who does that remind me of?

Say Hello, Caius.

The next sensational biker murder case is simmering in Western Massachusetts.

This one has everything: A murder, another couple of murders to cover up the first murder, a “secret burial ground,” the Hells Angels Berkshire County Charter, a hurricane, attempted snitching and colorful characters. Right this minute Julian Sher – international biker authority, investigative reporter, best selling author and confidante and sometime business partner of John Ciccone – is probably depositing his advance check.

So get used to seeing the guy in the mug shot above. His name is Caius D. Veiovis. Veiovis, also known as Roy Gutfinski, is not actually a member of the Hells Angels but expect to see him portrayed as one. He is by far the most photogenic of the suspects. Widely acclaimed ATF hero, best selling author and would-be screenwriter Jay Dobyns has already posted the mug shot to his Facebook page.

Lifted wholesale from the Aging Rebel, good to see you back.

Spills, Thrills and Wim

That was a laugh and a half!

The day started like shit, thick wet drizzle, people late, Harleys breaking down and Belle overtook me on her arse when she lost the front end of the Red One on wet chevrons
Trooper that she is, she got back on after some running repairs and the day improved dramatically.
We were the last of about 50 to leave Bridgwater, picked up 600 more at Taunton Deane, down to J28 and back North bound with over 400 more from Exeter, and stopped for a break at J27.
Junction 27 services computer crashed and there was one 16 year on a till, lots of free cofee

The weather got better and better so we and a few others found a nice little country pub, then came back up to Bridgwater, considerably quicker than when we went down
A big steak and a chilled out ride home.
We even found the 600's sidepanel that fell off yesterday!

Great Day

QUESTION? WHAT DID IT ACHIEVE?

This event, flash mob, ride out, what was it and what did it do?

The EU produces a massive amount of proposed legislation every year, countless booted and suited staff justifying their existence by refining Civilisation.
Apart from the obvious hubris envolved, this process involves categorising human endeavour and eradicating what are perceived to be the undesirable elements.
And how would a career politician or civil servant define "undesirable"?
That which cannot be predicted and effectively controlled.
The media don't like that idea either. Deeply conservative if only due to its funding, the MainStream Media would see society ossified in a simple world, where any change is viewed with suspicion and any 'deviants' hunted down with lies.

So, in that frame of mind, our touchpad priests refine with endless sub sections and paras legislation going back years. This is all then vetted by some sort of Head Priest, in this case Wim van de Camp, for approval by the elected Parliament, who rarely know exactly what they are voting for. The adoption of legislation is not in doubt, but lobbying from National political parties, to assuage local sensibilities, can be successful.
That's where we're at, another step down the lobbying line. The more clout MAG has, the more likely Mr. Tyson & co are to be a go-to for politicians private secretaries, faced with motorcycle legislation.

Usually these bureaucratic touches are inspired by a "Study", a new Impact Assessment or some such. That sounds reasonable. Usually these Studies are plucked from the peer press and will go on in life to be part of the reasoning behind a change in the Regulations.

A Study like the one that inspired the Irish to include in their Action Plan for 2010-2014 the commitment to bike riders wearing a full sleeved dayglo jacket at all times, the only further discussion with be intense lobbying from manufacturers who see a potential nationwide re-kitting.

(This absurd afterthought is a proposed national law, not E.U. legislation, the same as the French 100 bhp limit. It was latched onto to stir up the masses and quickly and convincingly dismissed as such by UK pols. A straight cucumber windup.)

This Study was done in the mid 90's in Auckland New Zealand, sunny conditions. It considered 'conspicuity', the visability of motorcyclists. I will bore you later with why it is a crock of shit, unrelated beyond statistic comparison with here and now.

So, did today...?
What Wim van de Camp decides that goes into these proposed new bills, is influenced, in my opinion, by the fact that he rides motorbikes fast and will probably think He Knows Best. The fact that he is a gay Catholic will also influence his decisions, I'm sure.
Because of today, despite our MSM, it will become clear that there is a pressure group of significant voting importance who are instinctively anti-Federalist anyway, and who see this as a place to draw a line in the sand.
The fact that we had a good time was more important in the long run. Anything that brings us into contact with other bikers is good, and when so many actively seek it out under one loose banner, is great.

PS

I hope that those who are stressing themselves and their neighbours out, and us too, would just stop and think.
Does anybody really need this shit?

Shoot Shots

Art/Mistakes

Lazy Blogger Posts Funny E Bay Ad

Description

Motorcycles

Manufacturer: Kawasaki

Model: GPZ500 S

Type: Sports Touring

Engine Size: 498 cc

Mileage: 59000

Model Year: 1998

Colour: Black

Metallic Paint: Yes

MOT Expiration Date: Jun 2012

Drive Type: Chain

Kawasaki GPZ 500 S 1998 ( S reg)

MOT till end Jun 2012

this bike is in average condition for the year, has not been molested with or thrashed from what i can see

starts first time everytime, oxford heated grips , Givi top box rack AND box included in sale

typical scratches and dinks you would expect from a bike of this age ( please see pictures )

the only bad points on this bike are the front brake pads are due for a change , if the auction reaches a sensible amount i

will gladly change them.

tax runs out at the end of the month but successful bidder can ride her away!

test rides welcome ( with proof of insurance and cash as security )

any questions please feel free to email or ring or text me Simon 07746148822

px or swap considered for anything interesting!

happy bidding!!

iv been as honest as i can with the bike , viewing is recommended , sold as seen

pick up only ( can deliver at a price to be agreed)

---

On 17-Aug-11 at 14:46:05 BST, seller added the following information:

BIKE SOLD PLEASE DO NOT BID!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

On 17-Aug-11 at 14:58:05 BST, seller added the following information:

BIKE SOLD!!!!! BIKE SOLD!!!!! BIKE SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIKE SOLD!!!!!!!!! no more bike, bike is gone, do not bid as there is no bike to bid on!

dont waste your time! look for another bike!!

---

On 18-Aug-11 at 00:57:17 BST, seller added the following information:

SERIOUSLY PLEASE STOP BIDDING ON THIS BIKE IT IS SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE BIKE IS NOW IN THE HANDS OF SOME OTHER DUDE!!!

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MINE . . . . . . .WHOEVER KEEPS BIDDING ON IT JUST STOP!!! I CANT END THE AUCTION!!!!

SERIOUSLY IF YOU ARE THE "WINNING" BIDDER ALL YOU ARE WINNING IS THE EMAIL FROM ME AND THE PHONECALL ASKING YOU TO PAY MY DAMN EBAY FEES SO STOP IT!

---

On 18-Aug-11 at 01:07:38 BST, seller added the following information:

really now stop it!!

do you really want to be THAT douchebag that didnt read the description properly?

cuz thats what you are gonna be if you bid!

is that what you want?

ok then go for it, stick some bids on it then!! douchebag!

then when u call me to arrange pick up . . . . . . . .

---

On 18-Aug-11 at 10:54:22 BST, seller added the following information:

Congratulations to the following ebay members . . . . . . . .

VEGASINKMATT . . . .. you are a douche!! :P

CHOPPER.1925 . . . . . . .you a a fucking retard

LAVENDER8610 . . . . . . you are a retard with THE worst ebay name i have ever heard.

anyone else want to be added to my "oh my god how fucking retarded can you be" list??

---

On 18-Aug-11 at 10:57:00 BST, seller added the following information:

Congratulations to the following ebay members . . . . . . . .

VEGASINKMATT . . . .. you are a douche!! :P

CHOPPER.1925 . . . . . . .you a a fucking retard

LAVENDER8610 . . . . . . you are a retard with THE worst ebay name i have ever heard.

anyone else want to be added to my "oh my god how fucking retarded can you be" list??

---

On 18-Aug-11 at 11:19:56 BST, seller added the following information:

PART TWO . . . . . . .

ebay member . . . . .

PAULIMNOTFAT . . . . . . . .IS fat and is also retarded

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On 18-Aug-11 at 21:14:38 BST, seller added the following information:

And the awards for "oh jesus i am so retarded it hurts!" goes to . . . . . . ..

ethelred02 . . . . for best supporting retard

sweatyfeet . . . . .for outstanding achievements in fuckfacery

but tonights star prize and our overall wienner goes to . . . . . .boneshakerchoppers!!!!!!!!

stay tuned folks for more special needs antics tomorrow!

---

On 19-Aug-11 at 00:51:54 BST, seller added the following information:

sometimes i lay awake at night and i worry about the world, how did we make it past the dark ages?

what is it that sets off that creative spark that spurs man to strive for greater things?

what if that special muse no longer exists? what if its no longer bright enough to compete with internet porn and krispy kreme donuts, are we doomed to forever coast till the end?

have we had our concord moment?

i think we should take a moment to reflect. . . . .

LEEM2418 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sadly outwitted by a labrador

SHAUNEWHITHEAD2009 . . . . . . . . . . So struck by mental infirmary he is even unable to come up with an ebay name

MAXRAYMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Still cursed by child incontinence even into adulthood

STORM1243 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cursed with the social skills and quick whit of Kerry "fuck me im thick as fuck" Katona

GMF78 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 yrs old and still has no concept of vowels

PEOPLE PLEASE DONT TAKE THE GIFT OF OPPOSABLE THUMBS AND ABSTRACT THOUGHT FOR GRANTED!

RETARDEDNESS MAY NOT BE AS INFECTIOUS AS THE COLD OR THE AIDS, BUT BY GOD IF THIS AVERAGE KEEPS UP THEN WE ARE ALL DOOMED TO BE RETARDED BY PROXY!!

I'm wet and tired and all you want to do is take photos........

Valkyrie

Religion and Politics Part 1

Waving Bye Bye to God, 1933:







On April 20, 1939, Archbishop Orsenigo celebrated Hitler's birthday. The celebrations, initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) became a tradition. Each April 20, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin was to send "warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany" and added with "fervent prayers which the Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven on their altars."



Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius XII) signs the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican at a formal ceremony in Rome on 20 July 1933. Nazi Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen sits at the left, Pacelli in the middle, and Rudolf Buttmann sits at the right.
The Concordat effectively legitimized Hitler and the Nazi government to the eyes of Catholicism, Christianity, and the world.
It contained a "Secret Supplement" which shows, six years before the start of WWII, that General Mobilisation was only a matter of time and that the Catholic Church was "up for it".

Secret Supplement

In case of a change in the present German armed forces in the sense of the introduction of universal conscription, the induction of priests and other members of the regular clergy and the orders into military service will, with the understanding of the Holy See, be arranged within the framework of approximately the following guiding ideas:

a) Students of philosophy and theology at Church institutions who are preparing themselves for the priesthood are to be freed from military service and the preparatory drills for it, except in the case of a general mobilisation.

b) In the case of a general mobilization clerics who are employed in the diocese administration or the military chaplaincy are freed from reporting for duty. This applies to ordinaries, members of the ordinariate, provosts of seminaries and Church residences for seminarians, professors at the seminaries, parish priests, curates, rectors, coadjucators and the clerics who provide a church with worship services on a continuing basis.

c) The remaining clerics, insofar as they are considered suitable, are to join the armed forces of the state in order to devote themselves to pastoral care for the troops under the Church jurisdiction of the military bishops, if they are not inducted into the medical unit.

d) The remaining clergy in sacris or members of orders, who are not yet priests are to be assigned to the medical unit. The same shall apply when possible to the candidates for the priesthood mentioned in a) who have not yet taken their final vows.